\nSEOUL, South Korea, Nov 8 (AP) — North Korea has denied American claims that it’s shipping artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, and on Tuesday accused the United States of lying.<\/p>\n
The denial follows dozens of weapons tests by North Korea, including short-range missiles that are likely nuclear-capable and an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the U.S. mainland. Pyongyang said it was testing the missiles and artillery so it could \u201cmercilessly\u201d strike key South Korean and U.S. targets if it chose to.<\/p>\n
North Korea has been cozying up to traditional ally Russia in recent years and even hinted at sending workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. The United States has accused North Korea, one of the most weaponized countries in the world, of supplying Soviet-era ammunition such as artillery shells, to replenish Russian stockpiles that have been depleted in the Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Last week, Russia sent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a trainload of 30 thoroughbred horses, opening the border with its neighbor for the first time in 2 1\/2 years. Kim is an avid horseman and state media have often pictured him galloping on snowy mountain trails astride a white charger. The horses, Orlov trotters, are prized in Russia.<\/p>\n
Spokespeople of Russia\u2019s Far Eastern Railway told the state-run news agency Nov. 2 that the first train headed to North Korea with the 30 horses and said the next train was to carry medicine.<\/p>\n
Experts say North Korea may be seeking Russian fuel and also technology transfers and supplies needed to advance its military capabilities as it pursues more sophisticated weapons systems.<\/p>\n
In September, North Korea restarted its freight train service with China, its biggest trading partner, ending a five-month hiatus.<\/p>\n
Last week, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby accused North Korea of covertly supplying a \u201csignificant number\u201d of ammunition shipments to Russia. He said the United States believes North Korea was trying to obscure the transfer route by making it appear the weapons were being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe regard such moves of the U.S. as part of its hostile attempt to tarnish the image of (North Korea) in the international arena,” an unidentified vice director at the North Korean ministry\u2019s military foreign affairs office said in a statement carried by state media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe once again make clear that we have never had \u2018arms dealings\u2019 with Russia and that we have no plan to do so in the future,\u201d the vice director said.<\/p>\n
In September, U.S. officials confirmed a newly declassified U.S. intelligence finding that Russia was in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea. North Korea later dismissed that report, calling on Washington to stop making \u201creckless remarks\u201d and to \u201ckeep its mouth shut.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Nov. 2, Kirby said the U.S. has \u201can idea\u201d of which country or countries the North may funnel the weapons through but wouldn\u2019t specify. He said the North Korean shipments are \u201cnot going to change the course of the war,\u201d citing Western efforts to resupply the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n
Slapped by international sanctions and export controls, Russia in August bought Iranian-made drones that U.S. officials said had technical problems. For Russia, experts say North Korea is likely another good option for its ammunitions supply, because the North keeps a significant stockpile of shells, many of them copies of Soviet-era ones.<\/p>\n
Even as most of Europe and the West has pulled away, North Korea has pushed to boost relations with Russia, blaming the U.S. for the crisis and decrying the West\u2019s \u201chegemonic policy\u201d as justifying military action by Russia in Ukraine to protect itself. In July, North Korea became the only nation aside from Russia and Syria to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk territories as independent.<\/p>\n
North Korea\u2019s possible arms supply to Russia would be a violation of U.N. resolutions that ban the North from trading weapons with other countries. But it\u2019s unlikely for North Korea to receive fresh sanctions for that because of a division at the U.N. Security Council over America\u2019s confrontations with Russia regarding its war in Ukraine and its separate strategic competitions with China.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Russia and China already vetoed a U.S.-led attempt to toughen sanctions on North Korea over its series of ballistic missile tests that are banned by multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.<\/p>\n
Some observers say North Korea has also been using the Russian aggression in Ukraine as a window to ramp up weapons testing activity and dial up pressure on the United States and South Korea. Last week, the North test-fired dozens of missiles in response to large-scale U.S.-South Korea aerial drills that Pyongyang views as a rehearsal for a potential invasion.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement published Tuesday by state media, a senior North Korean diplomat criticized U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres\u2019 recent condemnation of North Korea\u2019s missile launch barrage, calling him a \u201cmouthpiece\u201d of the U.S. government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.N. secretary general is echoing what the White House and the State Department say as if he were their mouthpiece, which is deplorable,\u201d said Kim Son Gyong, vice minister for international organizations at the North Korean Foreign Ministry.<\/p>\n
Kim said that Guterres\u2019 \u201cunfair and prejudiced behavior\u201d has contributed to the worsening tensions in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL, South Korea, Nov 8 (AP) — North Korea has denied American claims that it’s shipping artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, and on Tuesday accused the United States of lying. The denial follows dozens of weapons tests by North Korea, including short-range missiles that are likely nuclear-capable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}